Italian Salad

When I think of Italian Salad, I think of lettuce - usually iceberg - with some tomatoes, red onion, maybe olives, a dusting of powdered parmesan and dried herbs. And Italian dressing. Always that bottled, yellowish, generic Italian dressing.

It's not something I get excited about.

Here? Ohhh, no. An Italian salad is a revelation. Something delicious, multidimensional, and worthy of a meal time salad. Fruity, juicy, salty, meaty, tangy. This is wonderful, super easy, and a great meal for hot summer days when melons and tomatoes are at their peak and the stove is the last place you want to be.

No cook.
No quantities.
Put things on a plate and eat them.

It's my kind of cooking.  Splurge on good, fresh produce for this one.

The following recipe quantities are really truly suggestions. If you, like me, don't like canteloupe, try it anyway! The salt from the prosciutto and the sweet acidic tang from the balsamic help mellow that musky quality.

Italian Salad (Serves 2-3 as a meal with crusty bread)
Lettuce greens - 1 head.  Try leaf lettuce, romaine, or rocket/arugula.
Tomatoes - 3 medium
Small canteloupe - 1
Fresh Basil - a few leaves per person
Mozzarella - 2 balls
Parmesan - a smattering of petals peeled off a wedge
Prosciutto - 8-12 very thin slices
Olives - a few

Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt - something with some texture if you can. We had fine sel de Guérande.

1. Wash/Chop up the salad greens and divvy them our onto plates.
2. Wash and cut the tomatoes into wedges. Portion onto plates.
3. Split the melon. Scoop out the slimy, seedy innards. Cut into wedges. Carefully trim off rind. Portion melon wedges onto places.
4. Cut mozzarella however your heart desires. Slices, wedges, cookie-cutter shapes, whatever! Divvy out.
5. Loosely roll up slices of prosciutto and portion out onto plates.
6. Take the wedge of parmesan and a vegetable peeler and make some petals or "copeaux" - which literally means "shavings" but sounds so much classier - then scatter on each plate. Maybe 5-8 petals per plate?
7. Wash and roll up basil leaves. Chop into chiffonade strips.
8. Top with a token olive, or more if you really like olives. We used black garlicky ones.
9. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over the salads.
10; Drizzle EVOO over salads.
11. Sprinkle a little bit of nice salt over all.

Serve with crusty bread and a nice rosé or white.